I guess we dodged a bullet!

[Thumper]

Friday afternoon we had a helluva thunder storm roll through here, along with a couple of VERY close lightning strikes. One sounded like it was right behind us and another sounded like it was right out front. The old flash of light and immediate thunder type deals with no delay between the lightning and thunder.

The second one made the lights flicker, the tv shut down and we lost internet. I rebooted the modem and router and all was good.

We were gone all day Saturday and Sunday. Today, I took the trash receptacle to the curb and noticed all sorts of leaves, big chunks of oak and long strips of oak bark lying in the front yard. WTF? I’ve seen this before and the first thing that came to mind was a lightning strike. I looked up toward the top of the oak tree out front and spotted the tell-tale sign. Lightning knocked the snot out’ta that thing! Now it’ll be a waiting game to see if it killed the tree (been through this a few times).

This thing was already looking poorly as a hurricane blew the top out of it a few years ago, now this.

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[BarryBobPosthole]

Hard to tell from the picture but it looks similar to what happened to one of mine. We have a huge pecan that I call the Old Man that got struck shortly after we moved in 26 years ago and it peeled a little strip of bark in almost a corkscrew pattern down the trunk of that tree. I thought for sure it was a goner but its still alive and kicking to this day. Shade is a premium commodity around here in the summertime!
BKB

[Thumper]

This one actually blew large chunks of wood across the street into the neighbor’s yard!

Years ago, we had a very large pine at the corner of our house. The lightning peeled a large strip of bark from the top of the tree, to the level of our second story, then jumped the gap into our attic. The whole house smelled of ozone, but there was no fire.

It fried almost everything electrical in the house. 3 TV’s, a few phones, our clothes dryer (but not the washer), complete stereo system, 2 computers, a few ceiling fans and probably some things I’ve forgotten about. What was weird, it actually blew the nails out of a whole wall of drywall in my office and left a crack about 6-8 feet long across the top. My insurance company loved me. [emoji30]

What really sucked is, the tree died and I had to have it removed. It was HUGE, with a diameter of
close to 3-ft. or so.

We have a power pole at the far, rear corner of our property and I couldn’t tell you how many times that transformer has been blown out by lightning. Of course, we DO live in the “lightning capital of the world”.


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[Chicken Dinner]

I was sitting in entrance of my patio enjoying a smoke and watching a storm roll in about 40 years ago when lightning struck a tree about 20’ away on the very edge of the woods. Talk about loud! I don’t even remember jumping up - just standing in the dining room from a sitting position. Cool thing was that there lightning cork screwed down the tree it hit until it hit an old wire clothes line someone had hung at head height, traveled across the wire to another tree, cork screwed down it and then threw up a bunch of dirt when it went into the ground. I’ve had a much healthier respect for lightning since then.


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[Thumper]

I remember being at my grandmother’s house in 1977 (the year she passed away). I’d just walked out on her front porch and for some unknown reason (freaky in a way) just happened to look up at the top of an oak tree across the street and a little to my right, at exactly the time a huge lightning bolt hit the tree in the exact spot I was looking. It seemed like it was raining leaves for five minutes after that. To this day, it amazes me, wondering why I happened to look at that particular spot at that particular time. It was like a premonition or something.

Being from Florida, I’ve witnessed multiple lightning strikes in my lifetime, but the freakiest was about 20 years ago. I had a 27’ Stamas cuddy cabin at the time and was out in the Gulf of Mexico, fishing. All of a sudden, I could feel “tingling” and the hair on my head stood up. Then I noticed my line raise up out of the water and became suspended in mid-air. A couple seconds later, a bolt of lightning hit the water about 50 feet from my boat! Water shot straight up into the air like a geyser!

The weird part was, there were some clouds way off in the distance, but it was pretty clear where I was. It didn’t matter, I still made it back to the marina in record time! I’ve always wondered why that lightning hit the water instead of the boat? Especially since I had a large antenna on top for my ship-to-shore radio.


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[BarryBobPosthole]

I’m a healthy respecter of lightning when I’m holding one of those graphite lightning rods in my hand. after just one more cast I am anyways. I don’t suppose any of you other effers ever did that.

I grew up in thunderstorm, USA but I’’ve never seen lightning likeWehadwhen I lived in Tampa/St Pete. I was doing handyman work part time, a lot of roofing stuff mainly, and I learned hpw fast those Floridaboomers could blow up. I also learnedit was a daily occurence and generally the same time too. But if you enjoy watching lightning, Florida wouldbe hard to beat!
BKb

[Thumper]

Odd you should mention that P-hole. I’m fascinated by lightning and love being on the beach in a hotel or condo watching a large storm and light show off-shore. On our last trans-Atlantic cruise (Rome to Florida) I sat out on our cabin veranda and watched a couple of nice thunder storms out at sea. I also love watching “heat lightning” at night.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Weather has always fascinated me too. When I was stationed in biloxi TDY one summer, I used to sit on old hwy 90 and watch the waterspouts play just outside the Mississippi Sound. It was only six foot deep for about a mile out so the storms with waterspouts would come in towards shore and as soon as they hit shallow water they’d dump everything in about ten seconds. This Okie boy was mesmerized.
BKB

[Thumper]

Well, I went just now to pick up some of the debris from that tree out front and realized there’s an “exit wound” on the backside of the limb. [emoji15]

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[quercus alba]

When I was about 13 I had nailed some boards across a fork in a big oak in the corner of the yard. My buddy and I were setting up in it and my mother stuck her head out the back door and called us in for lunch. As we reached the back door lightening struck it and split it right down the middle. Two minutes later getting down and I would have been toast. Thing is I was too young and too dumb to realize what a close call I had just had.

[Thumper]

Wow! Now that IS a little too close for comfort! Somebody was watching over you that day.

[quercus alba]

Every day is a blessing Jim

[BarryBobPosthole]

Every day is a blessing Jim

Truer words never spoken, my friend.

BKB